Available Majors

Available Minors

In addition to literary studies, our Modern Foreign Language program focuses on understanding the world from the perspective of the cultures being studied.

Notre Dame language majors build confidence and competence through a variety of real-world opportunities to interact with native speakers, including community service and internships throughout the Baltimore/D.C. area.

The Sister Kathleen Feeley International Center houses not only the department of Classical and Modern Foreign Languages, but also the Office of International Programs, Study Abroad and the English Language Institute.

Below are listed some popular careers and the languages most helpful to them:

Medicine, Pharmacy, Law

Latin, Spanish

Museum work

Latin, Italian

Journalism

French, Spanish

Law enforcement

Spanish, French

Music

Italian, French, German

Teaching, Social Work

Spanish

Government

Spanish, French, Japanese, other non-western languages

International Relations/Business

Spanish, French, Japanese, other non-western languages

Study Abroad

The quickest and easiest way to become familiar with another culture is through direct experience. We encourage students to enjoy a semester or summer abroad. There are also short-term programs available through summer or January study tours to a variety of countries and settings. Financial aid is possible for most study abroad programs.

Honor Societies for Language Students

Phi Sigma Iota is the international foreign language honor society open to advanced students in all languages. To be eligible for membership a student must be a junior or senior who has completed at least one advanced course in a foreign language and maintains a 3.0 grade point average.

Phi Beta Delta is an academic and professional society, unique because it is resolutely interdisciplinary and international. Its goals are to recognize the scholarly achievement of international students and scholars who have studied abroad and faculty/staff who are involved in international activities. There are two categories of membership for students: internationalstudents (upper division and graduate) who have demonstrated high scholastic achievement at their institutions; and domestic students (upper division and graduate) who have demonstrated high scholastic achievement in the pursuit of academic studies abroad.

Language Department Faculty in the News

A column by Linda Stilling, SSND, on her experiences on the border between Mexico and the United States and the insights she's gleaned about immigration

In the summer of 2013, I crossed the border between Douglas, Ariz., where some of our School Sisters of Notre Dame live, to Agua Prieta, Mexico. Here they minister with migrants, especially those who have just been deported back to Mexico from the U.S.

Every day, I thought about Jesus spending so much of his life with people on the border, on the margins. I found Jesus there, saw him there and touched him there every day. Those May days were a Holy Week, because I touched the suffering Christ in a place where the passion of Christ continues tangibly, daily.